Means for securing caps to projectiles.



T. DIXON.

, MEANS FOR SECURING CAPS T0 PROJEGTILES.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 25, 1912.

Patented May 21, 1912.

Thamas fiimqn UNITED sTArns mm. ra ns.

THOMAS DIXON, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, ASSIGNOR TO WASHING--TON STEEL & ORIDNANCE COMPANY, OF' WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, A

CORPORATION OF WEST VIRGINIA.

MEANS roe SECURING cars TO momcuirnns. 1 p

. I Specification of'Letters Patent. PatentedB Iay21, 1912.

Application filed March 25, 1912. Serial No. 686,047.

To all wlwm it may concern: Be it known that I, THOMAS Dixon, :1-citizen of the United States, residing at "Washington, in the Districtof Columbia, havev invented certain new and useful Improveinents inMeans for Securing Caps to Projectiles; and I do hereby declare thefollow- 'ing to be a full, clear, and exact description of theinvention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to make and use the same. I,

This invention relates to devices for se-- curing caps to shells, andhas for its object to 'producea means which will hold the cap at alltimes in tight contact with the shell,

and thereby operate more" eflicient-ly'in ac-; have been heretofore tionthan those which proposed. v a v As is well known, it is difiicult tomaintain the ordinary caps in tight contact with the projectile, becauseduring shipment, as well as in handling aboard ship, they are subjectedto knocks and strains that are liable to loosen them. It is further wellknown when a cap once becomes loose, not only is its axis liable to beout of alinement with 3 the axis of the projectile during flight, butthis defect is liable to be accentuated owing to the fact that, itsinertia, while vthe shell is rotating, tends to prevent it: fromrevolving with the shell body, and therefore acts 1 to further loosenit-, and to increase the inaccuracy of fire.

In orderto keep the projectile,- it has been heretofore pro-l caps in Itight contact with posed to provide the cap and shell with registeringgrooves and to force metal into said grooves to lock thecap. But, notonly do these grooves tend to weaken the shell, but in practice, it hasbeen found that a few hard knocks on the tip of such caps are apt toloosen them, and when they are once i loosened, the metal being cold,there is no tional means for securing the cap to the projectile"proposed heretofore, [involves 'raised and sunken portions of metal onthe shell and cap, but is equally objectionable owing to its expense, aswell as owing to the decreased penetration due to the said raisedportion. It has even been proposed to secure the cap to the shell withthe aid of screw devices, but the screws have pointed toward the base ofthe projectile, so that upon tightening the same, the cap would not tendto be drawn over the pointed end of projectile, and therefore, suchdevices have failed to secure the desired tight contact between thecap-[and projectile and resistance to'loosening strains, as in theprevious cases. I avoid all of the above objections .by the meansconstituting my invention, 'as will 'now be more fully hereinafterdisclosed and particularly pointed out in the claims. Referring to theaccompanying drawings forming apartof this specification in which llkenumerals designate like vparts in all the views :--Figure 1 is anelevational view 'partly in section of the forward portion of a shellprovided with'a cap equipped with my invention; Fig. 2 is a plan View ofthe parts -shown in Fig. 1 with the fastening means omitted; and, Fig. 3is an enlarged detail sectional view of my fasteningmeangj showing aslightly modified form of lock;

1 indicates the body of the forward portion-0f the shell; 2 the wellknown cap fitting over the same; 3 an orifice bored through the straightportion of the cap inclined to the axis of the shell and cap, when theparts are in place, and slanting toward the point of said cap and shell,as illustrated." The said orifice 3 is further screwthreaded, as. bestindicated in Fig. 3. In addition to the orifice 3, I form a pocket 4 inthe forward portion of the shell'whose axis coincides with the axisvoftheorifice I may force the metal 8 surrounding the orifice 3-over therim of said bolt 6 in order to firmly lock the same in place. But, in

i be go'uged. out, or the l in the first instance,

ordinary cases, it is found, as indicated in Fig. 1, that the bolt 6holds the parts sufficiently tight to render this locking meansunnecessary.

The operation of my invention will be clear from the foregoing, but maybe briefly summarized as follows :The cap 2 is placed over the shell 1,and by a jig, or other suitable means, the orifice 3 and pocket 4 areformed in the cap and shell, respectively, whereupon a. bolt such as 9,Fig. 1, is screwed into said orifice, as illustrated, and cut off orotherwise severed, so that its extreme outer end will either lie evenwith the surface 7- of the cap, as shown in Fig. l, or slightly beneaththe same, as shown in Fig. 3. In order that the said outer end may lieslightly beneath the surface, it can bolt itself can be weakened so asto break off a portion 6 of just the right length to occupy the positionshown in said Fig. 3, In all cases the outer head of the bolt 9 .isremoved when such bolts "are employed. In some cases, however, a bolt,such as 6, may be employed and provided with a slotin its outer end ascrew-driving tool.

The important feature of my invention resides in the fact that theorifice 3 and pocket 4 have their axes inclined to the axes 'of the capand shell, and point in a forward direction. The effect of thisdisposition of parts is to cause the cap to be tightly drawn over thesurface of the shell, while applying the bolt 6, and to be thereaftertightly and firml held against said surface at all times.

Furt er, byv providing the abrupt flat bottom 5 to the pocket 4, againstwhich the extreme end of the bolt 6 abuts, .it is found to be impossibleto loosen this cap by any ordinary knocks or strains to which the cap isusually subjected. It, therefore, follows that'by the simple expedientabove disclosed,

I avoid all the objections which have been inseparable from the forengagement with tofore proposed. a

It is obvious that those skilled-in the art may vary the details ofconstruction and the arrangement of parts without departing from thespirit of my invention, and there-, fore I do not wish to be limited tothe above disclosure except as may be required by the claims.

What I claim is 1. The combination of a projectile pro vided with atoward the point longitudinal axis provided with an pocket whose axisextends orifice whose axis coin- .cides with the axis of said pocket;and a fastening means here of and is inclined to the of said projectile;a cap.

fastening means adapted to hold said cap in tight contact with saidprojectile secured in said orifice and pocket, substantially asdescribed. Y

2. The combination of a vided with a forwardly inclined pocket; 8. capprovided with a screw-threaded orifice registering with saidv pocket;and a screwthreaded member fitting said orifice and pocket adapted todraw said projectile and to firmly hold the same in tight contacttherewith, substantially as described.

3. The combination of a projectile provided with a plurality ofpartially open, forwardly inclined rality of inclined registering withsaid pockets; and screwthreaded plug members fitting said orifices andpockets adapted to draw and hold said cap in tight contact with saidsurface, sub stantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I afiix my signature, in presence of twowitnesses.

THQMAS DIXON. Witnesses:

GEo. F. BENKER, J. N. WHEELER.

pockets extending be-f neath its outer surface; a, cap having a pluscrew-threaded orifices projectile pro- 7 cap toward said 7

